Root to rise and rise again

In the traditional which I’ve immersed myself in we rise up the chakras. We root to rise. I make that note because not all traditions would have it that way. There’s nothing wrong or right in this, it’s just perspective.

So we start at the Muladhara chakra, the root. If you’ve ever studied Maslow’s hierarchy of needs it’s a striking similarity. We need certain things for our safety and security before move up through the Chakras. It’s like building a house if our foundation is shaky, it’s not going to be very stable or hold us well.

We tend to bypass this need in our society because we tend to thing upwards is best, we look up to people and rise up the hierarchy. What I find, however, is that everyone can benefit from going right back to the root, to what makes us human and to remember that many of us don’t have that stability in our life. You only have to look across to the Middle East to see that.

That is to say that we don’t need to get stuck in this Chakra, there is great beauty in the balance between rooting to rise. When we have a solid foundation we don’t need to be stuck there, we can start to look upwards and enjoy all that life has to offer.

Spinning the wheels...

Over the next few weeks I'm going to be taking a journey through the chakras. It's a journey I've taken before, yet with each review more is revealed in this very ancient wisdom. Chakras are said to be vortexes of energy, each having their own special feeling. Like those moments when you've been sitting in a room and someone says the most inappropriate thing. The energy suddenly changes. That's how you know you're tuned into your perception, we can all feel that awkwardness.

Once we begin to understand the chakras and how they work individually and in relation to the other chakras we can start to interpret why we seem to get stuck in certain situations. So if we can't hold down a job or are always short of cash, that's our body telling us that something is out of sync. Because chakras can be either too open or too closed, we're looking to fin balance. We can also note that they are not linear in nature, our crown chakra may be well balanced at the same time as our heart chakra is sputtering like a Catherine wheel which hasn't got going.

My understanding of the chakras first began after I was involved in an experience in which I felt as if I had literally been uprooted. That's honestly how I felt, like all of a sudden everything which I felt was solid, wasn't and I had to find a new way. In that moment I had a choice. The choice to go and plonk myself where I had always been or to go and find some soil which would nuture and support me in a way which would give me the zip and life I want.

Sewing the seeds

As we enter what I affectionately refer to as “vata season” I find the need to tune in and really listen to what my body is telling me, as opposed to what I would do BYE (Before Yoga Era): become erratic, run around and not focus on anything in particular.

If you’re not familiar with Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science here’s a quick run down. Ayurveda treats the whole person as an individual, we are said to be made of three parts to create our unique constitution: pitta (fire), vata (air), kapha (earth). We are born, live and die with this constitution so the more we understand about it and our propensities within it the more we can live balanced and harmonious (sattvic) existence. If we choose to, free will is a whole other discussion.

The point being, that while we made up of these essences, so we see it revealed in the nature we find around us. Autumn and spring are particularly vata times, there’s a lot of change happen, quite literally (eh-hem) a lot of wind flying around. And since I'm particularly vata, I feel this season particularly. We can feel scattered and thrown to the four corners. The beauty of aryuveda is that one doesn’t treat this as such, it merely provides us with a whole range of tools which we can use to bring more balance.

So for me that means, porridge and stews. It means warm drinks. It means a grounded, slow practice. It means time on the sofa under a duvet enjoying my favourite books and giving myself space for contemplation. Because as autumn is a time to slow down it is also the time we plant the seeds we wish to gestage and then grown in the spring. So it’s the time to turn inside and give space for your creativity to be sewn.

Balancing on the paradox

The 12 segments of the Zodiac keep turning and we find ourselves deep within the Cancerian section of the zodiac. I take a peek at star signs occasionally to see what I can learn. Cancerians are known for being a bundle of contradictions, living life on the turn of their emotions. The yogi learns to balance these contradictions in the eternal paradox that it means to be human, which is: how can we be in the body and yet be free? That’s what spiritual practice is for.

Because, if we can find a place where two seemingly contradictory things meet, we have found the place of balance. And that’s the place where freedom resides. This is quite literally why we do yoga poses. The further away we take ourselves from where we feel centred, standing upright, to turning ourselves upside down, eg handstand we completely change our perspective and have to move into where it feel uncomfortable. That way, we can find our way back, whenever we get taken off centre, by whatever life throws at us. I love the quote by T.S. Eliot, one of my favourite explanations of this eternal paradox:

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

Rinsing & Soaking into spring

I love this time of year. The promise of newness, feeling naughty because you're going home when it's still light, the lightness of spirit as the rest of the world lightens. There's something about spring which lets me open up to new possibilities in a way I don't do so much during the rest of the year. I'm reminded of calling my mum a couple of years ago, I could tell she was flustered and there was a lot of noise. I said "what are you doing", the answer, "spring cleaning"...

I was transported back to my youth when every year my mum would turn the house upside down to dust away the cobwebs, throw away the junk and invite the new light in. What really made me worry is that this week I found myself on the floor of the kitchen, cupboards in disarray as I prepared myself for my spring cleanse.

So this has to be fodder for my classes this week. I wanted to welcome the spring and the answer came when I took a YogaGlo class with Marc Holzman this weekend, the theme was different and so inspiring but I loved the focus on twists. The idea of clearing and cleaning can't get any close to the mat than when we practice twists. They're so much fun! So that's what am doing this week, rinsing and soaking, clearing and decluttering so I can let the new light in and the beauty shine out.